radio loways may / june 2015

01. Don’t Change – INXS
02 Blonde Redhead – DNA
03. Suicide – Spacemen 3
04. Clockwise – Notekillers
05. Seven – Thundercat
06. There was a Time / Feel Alright – James Brown
07. Methods – Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf
08. The Works II – Alvin Curran
09. Shadow – Ernst Reijseger
10. Tuff Gnarl – Mike Watt

Unhelpful Notes
When I was a kid I loved INXS. Especially the albums Kick and X. Suicide Blonde was all the rage as were New Sensation, I Need You Tonight, etc. As I got older and into weirder musics, INXS fell by the wayside and seemed cheesy and pointless. But then I got even older, and I learned that they are cheesy, but not pointless. As far as pop goes, they’re pretty alright. And this song from when they were still largely babies, is pretty alright too. Babies making anthems. Bonus props for them for figuring out how to get the Heroes guitar sound.

The rhythm on Blonde Redhead is fantastic. The bass slow motion reverse duck walk in the video is pretty awesome too.

This, I think is my favorite Spacemen 3 song of all time. For me they are at their best when they do the long, drawn out, rave up, psych jams. Their flirtation with americana and more stripped down songs is alright, but this is where they thrive. Clearly. All they need is a synth drone and one riff and they are monstrous. I have no original opinions about this band.

I love, love, love, prog future soul. I feel like this is the type of music that should’ve been used in any future based movie to show what music would sound like in the future. It has such a weird sensibility and yet it’s totally palatable and easy and poppy. Delicious, Thundercat, delicious.

These two tracks from James Brown I think are my favorite. The beat and riff and endless loop repetition of the horns is amazing. I could listen to it for hours. I think this is the best version of these two, cuz it just goes on and on. Someone please remix this so that it goes on for like twenty minutes at least.

The Ernst Reijseger piece is perfection. Cello and organ. Beautiful. That’s all.

Usually I would say the original is better, but this cover of Tuff Gnarl I think is better. Maybe it’s cuz I’ve heard the original so many times that to hear it new is to hear it better. I feel like there’s more expression in this one. More emotion. More weirdness even. Sister is probably my least favorite Sonic Youth album. Maybe cuz the production is so shit. Everything sounds muffled and muddy. There are some good songs on there but overall they’re buried in the mix. So maybe hearing this one sound bright and clean helps too.

This edition was a dude fest sausage party. Apologies for that.